JOURNALIST:
We do start this half‑hour, though, talking about Rex Airlines because we woke to the concerning news that it’s gone into voluntary administration. It’s grounded its fleet of Boeing 737 private jets – sorry, 737 jets, which we must point out provide services between the major capital cities. So, the slightly bigger planes going between the major capital cities have been grounded. But the flights in the regional areas will continue to operate, the major airport ones will not. Unions say they’ve been told by administrators that 850 jobs will be axed under a restructure plan that’s been announced overnight. The Federal Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says the government is watching the situation closely and this is because there are many saying that the government perhaps needs to bail out the airline.
JIM CHALMERS:
It’s been a really concerning week for Rex, for its customers and for its workers, and we’ll go through what the company says I think later today or certainly this week and respond when we can to that. We do know that regional flights are really important to regional communities, to regional economies, and the Prime Minister, the Transport Minister, the New South Wales Premier have all said that we want to make sure that people can still access flights on these regional routes.
As I understand it, the airline contacted their customers last night and said that they expect the regional routes to continue. If that’s the case, then that will be a big, big relief for a lot of people because we do want to see those regional services continue. And Catherine King, my colleague, in her characteristically diligent way is also talking with the other airlines about making sure that they can accommodate and employ any people who might be losing their job as a consequence of what we expect to see at Rex.
SABRA LANE:
One of their competitors, Virgin, is offering to cover flights for those affected, but it’s also telling Rex workers to apply for work. Something, like, I think, 850 jobs are at risk here. That would be a worry.
CHALMERS:
Of course, it is, very, very concerning. Any job losses are obviously concerning but particularly job losses of that magnitude. That’s why it’s so important that Catherine King is leading discussions with the other airlines to see who can be re‑employed and redeployed. But we also want to see those regional routes continue. That’s our expectation now given the contact with customers last night but let’s see what the company says through the course of today and the rest of the week.
LANE:
Would the federal government be prepared to take an equity stake in the airline if that’s what it takes to help it survive?
CHALMERS:
Look, I don’t really want to pre‑empt those sorts of considerations or discussions. I think the PM has made it clear, as has the New South Wales Premier to his credit, that we’re prepared to play a constructive role here, but I don’t want to pre‑empt the options before we hear from the company. Our priority here is the jobs, making sure that we can find good jobs for people, and also making sure that those regional flights continue because we know how important regional routes and regional flights are to regional communities and economies.
LANE:
Rex made a risky decision to compete between the major capital cities, taking on the major players. The Opposition’s transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie claims that Qantas took retribution for that, cutting their ticket prices on marginal regional routes to damage Rex. What’s your response to that? Would you be worried that anti‑competitive behaviour like that took place?
CHALMERS:
Look, we’re always on the lookout for anti‑competitive behaviour. We’ve got a very effective competition watchdog and where we need to give them additional responsibilities or a different focus, we’ve shown a willingness to do that in the past. I think a lot of times Bridget McKenzie plays politics with some of these concerning developments. We know that there are difficulties in the aviation sector. We’re prepared to play a constructive role and part of that is making sure that the sector is as competitive as possible. That’s why Catherine King, again, has been working really diligently and really hard on the white paper for aviation and also making sure that whether it’s Sydney Airport, or in other ways, we’re making the sector as competitive as we can.
LANE:
To today’s inflation figures, if they go up and the Reserve Bank lifts official interest rates as a result next week, are you contemplating doing a Peter Beattie and saying, ‘Sorry, people, we’re doing the best we can’?
CHALMERS:
First of all, I’m not going to pre‑empt the decision made independently by the Reserve Bank. They’ve got their considerations and I’ve got my job to do. And I take responsibility for my part of this. And we’re doing our bit. Turning those big Liberal deficits into Labor surpluses, providing substantial cost‑of‑living relief in a meaningful way but also in a responsible way, and that’s one of the reasons why we’ve seen inflation come off really substantially since we came to office. Remember we had inflation with a 6 in front of it when we were elected, and we’ll see what the number says later on today. I think most people expect the inflation outcome today to be pretty persistent, sticky and stubborn. That would be an unwelcome outcome, of course, but also unsurprising given the pressures we’re seeing from around the world and also some factors here at home, including temporary factors.